Night Angel
by MakoRain
Summary: Third in 'dream within a dream' series...Tifa's mad and can't sleep, how will Cloud help her now?


A/N: so sorry updating has been slow but I wanted this up for finals week, cuz this is how I feel during this hellish time of the year in which professors feel the need to test my stress levels, more now than ever. So anyways, hope you enjoy and R&R as always. I own nothing, that is my disclaimer since I always forget to do that for some reason lately.

_Dream within a dream, vol.3_

"**Night Angel"**

**By MakoRain**

"What do you mean you can't make it here by tomorrow morning?! You guaranteed that you…yes, I understand the shipment was stranded somewhere, but that doesn't mean…I need my merchandise!" Tifa tried to calm down but she couldn't, this would not be tolerated.

"If I don't have enough alcohol for tomorrow's customers, there will be hell to pay…I don't care if that's not your problem, I'm making it your problem so fix it!" The phone slammed into its cradle and she swore the sturdy plastic almost broke under her force.

This could not be happening. It was Sunday…of course she was very low on everything needed to make any good drinks. The inventory always came in on Monday, how was she to know that there would be a problem with transporting it? It wasn't her fault their stupid truck broke down en route to Kalm, which was much farther from Midgar than they were willing to continue; it was easier for them to go back and start over again.

"Damn it!"

Tifa sat down with a loud thud on the wooden chair in Cloud's office and tried to think of a way to handle this. She could close the bar…but no, she would not let this defeat her. So what if she didn't have a whole lot of food to serve or alcohol to make anything worth drinking. She put her head in her hands and tried with all her might to concentrate. There has to be a way…

She picked up a pen and twirled it around her thumb, trying to find a way out of this.

Twirl…twirl…twirl…

"Tifa?"

She jumped at the sudden sound and her pen went flying, landing somewhere behind the desk. Hand to her chest, she tried to keep her heart from escaping as she calmed her breathing somewhat.

"Cloud, could you please not _do_ that?"

"Do what?" Cloud asked groggily, walking over to stand behind her where she still sat at the desk.

"Creep up on me like that, you creeper." Tifa muttered, turning back to look at her dilemma on the desk and not at him. She wasn't mad at him, she had to remind herself, even if he did scare the hell out of her in her stressful state. It's those damn delivery trucks….

"What's wrong, Teef?" His hands on her tense shoulders relieved her stress somewhat but not by much as she thought of how to truly answer that question. The movement of his fingers rubbing the tension away made her stop thinking for a moment…it was nice.

"Tifa."

"Hmm?" she answered dazedly, almost falling asleep at his work on her body.

"Come to bed."

His voice was so sound, sweet, right….she should just go to sleep, no need to worry about…

"The trucks." She said in groggy despair, not wanting to think about it but unable to stop it as the panic struck once again. At Cloud's expectant gaze, she babbled all the way to the bedroom while trying not to trip up the stairs out of exhaustion. Good thing Cloud was there or she would have face planted a few times and kissed wood.

"Trucks…crashed outside of Kalm…too far…not here on time…"

Tifa wasn't making any sense, she knew that, but she had to make Cloud understand. He obviously didn't as he tucked her into bed, still babbling about 'bastards with trucks that wouldn't give her alcohol.' The last thing she heard was the mutterings from her lips drift off as Cloud kissed her lightly before falling asleep.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Blink…blink…blink…

The light shone through the curtains of the bedroom window as Tifa carefully opened her eyes. At first all she saw was light, so bright, mixed with cerulean eyes and angel wings carrying her off to blissful sleep.

_Huh, interesting dream there._

Upon further inspection, Tifa saw no angel but she did find a peacefully sleeping Cloud beside her, snoring rather loudly than usual. Careful not to wake him, she slipped out of bed and got dressed and ready for the new day. Walking down the stairs brought her past the pantry which got her to thinking of the daily to do list.

_I need to check all the glasses, make sure we have clean ones and some more in back in case we get any rowdy customers tonight…on a Monday night, very doubtful, but always good to be prepared. _

Automatically, Tifa walked to the back door as per her usual Monday routine to retrieve the shipment left there weekly at precisely this time, not taking account of her troubles of the night before over such matters. Yawning, she placed her hand on the door and was greeted with a shock of static electricity on the knob, bringing back to her what she was supposed to be worrying about.

_Oh my god, the shipment! The shipment that's stranded outside of Kalm! How could I have forgotten…what am I going to do! _

Still in autopilot, her thoughts grew frantic but her body opened the door to see…crates. She knelt down to lift the lid off of one and found…bottles of alcohol. Gin, scotch, vodka, all of the liquor she was low on was here at her door step, but how?

Slowly she stood and turned back to the bar with a bottle in each hand, trying to remember what was all included in last night's drama. She had been yelling at the idiots on the phone…flip, flip, flip of her pen…Cloud scaring her to death…babbling about the shipments and being lifted to sleep...CLOUD!

A smile spread so wide she felt she would break her face as she ran up the stairs to look at the dead tired sleeping hero. No wonder he was tired…it must have taken forever to load all of those crates onto fenrir and drive back and forth from Midgar to Kalm. She fought the urge to jump on him and kiss him, instead settling for a sweet kiss on his lips to which he smiled but didn't open his eyes before walking back to the bedroom door, still glowing like a star at his kindness and love, and closing it to get the bar ready. It was all thanks to her angel of the night sleeping for all of his hard work done for her.

_The End_

_As it was meant to be_


End file.
